Worn plumb out

Been busy on the bike the last few days. On Thursday I did what are called VO2's with Matt, Jason, and Don, something that Matt does every couple of weeks and are quite painful. Essentially, we do about 40 minutes of warmup at 23-24 mph (which is a workout in-and-of itself) and that's normal for those three thunderbolts. Then you follow that up with six 3-minute near-max efforts with 3 minutes of rest in between. The fifth effort, however, has to be beyond max and you should feel like "hurling chunks" when it's done. Then you have about 40 minutes of cool-down at around 17-18 mph. So, yeah, I did it and I did feel like "blowing chow" after the fifth rep. But I could see how this would improve my time trialing and maintaining a sustained effort if I keep this up at least once every couple of weeks. The whole workout covered almost 40 miles.

Then today I had to get in a long ride so I could continue trying to get back into shape after all that sickness a few weeks back (I still can't breathe as deeply as I need to). I managed to scrape out 67 miles with the first 40 being pretty hard and the last 27 being pretty weak (still averaged 19.8 mph for the whole distance and I'll take that for now). Got home totally wasted and had to force myself to put up the bike gear, shower, and get some things in order. Then I collapsed on the bed and snoozed for over an hour! What woke me up was the intense need to eat and I finished off what was left of my Chinese food that we had ordered last night. General Tso's Chicken is what I usually get and, yessir, dem boys is tasty.

(Now whether this means I do the stage race in Alexandria this weekend is suspect. I have until Thursday night to make up my mind if I want to have myself publicly destroyed during that time!)

I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting one of the local bike shops and then tried to finish up the medicine cabinet for the guest bathroom. The cabinet's installed in the wall now and ll I need is to get shorter screws for the door handle and some wood screws to anchor the cabinet into the wall. Then we're done with that!

Jonnene is working this weekend but she got off early enough today to take part in an open water swim class. She didn't get home until a bit after 4 pm but apparently got a good workout in the lake with about 32 other participants.

We rented "Kung Fu Panda" last night (hence the Chinese food order) and really enjoyed it. The computer animation on these films is really getting good and I was blown away by things like low-lit water in a night scene being reflected on the characters, or how a character would become brighter as he approached a light. Very well done.

Lingering....

It seems to be evident that Jonenne and I are still dealing with the effects of our illness even though we both 2-3 weeks past the worst part of the whole ordeal. We're both getting back into riding and other activities we like. Jonnene did a triathlon last Sunday where she was about two minutes faster than she was when she did the same event two years ago. I got back into riding about a week ago today and have already put in over 160 miles. But we can tell that we're not all there yet. I'm a little embarrassed that my desire to ride the bike isn't as strong as I'd like for it to be. I didn't ride at all yesterday during a holiday when I had all day to do so in good weather. And even though it's wet outside right now and probably suitable for getting on the bike, neither of us have any desire to go out there.

I did ride this morning with the 5:50 group, doing the strongest pull of the ride around 24-25 mph and even did a few hill repeats once I got back to our neighborhood. I noticed, again, that I'm still not breathing as deeply as I need to...the lungs seem to persist in having some congestion in them. I'm thankful that I don't feel anywhere near as bad as I did just two weeks ago but I'd really like to get over this stuff for good. Both of us feel tired most of the time which we attribute to trying to stay active as we usually do while still recovering from this lingering illness (which we've never really gone to the trouble to identify). Oh, well, we'll let some more time pass and eventually we'll shake it off.

Spent some of the day working on the medicine cabinet for the guest bathroom. The bathroom is pretty much finished and we decided to reuse the old wood cabinet instead of buying a new one. Major changes were a new lighter door and removal of one of the shelves inside. I need to finish painting it, then install it into the wall, and the loo will be done for all practical purposes. All that's remaining is to pretty it up with some pictures and stuff and any future guest will feel right at home. Photos to come when the cabinet gets installed. I'm pretty proud of it...looks really good!

A Very Useful Webite Link

You know how you've heard that 5% of the content on the World Wide Web is actually useful and the remaining 95% is just a bunch of crap? Well, it's true.

However, I have come across a website that falls into that five percent.

It's called RunPee.com and it lets you know when to take that pee break during a feature film in your local movie-plex. It's gives you a 3-minute window to allow you to head for the loo and not miss anything important in the film by telling the approximate time the opportunity to leave comes up and the dialogue/action that clues you in. Why spend all that time squirming and gyrating in your seat, yellow to the eyeballs, afraid to leave because you think you'll miss out on an important plot line? It's a new website and still needs some tweaking...if you can hold it.

This is the most important breakthrough in web history and proves why we need this technology to benefit all humankind.

STAR TREK

Jonnene and I went to see the new Star Trek film this evening.

Only one thing to say (of course I'll say more):

IN-FREAKIN'-CREDIBLE!!

Yeah, I liked it a lot. Definitely in the top three of all the Star Trek movies with "Wrath of Khan" and "The Search for Spock". My palms actually got sweaty during the fight scene with Kirk and Sulu on a drilling platform about 3,000 feet above the planet Vulcan. This movie was loaded with action and really great special effects.

Links to the movie trailers:
Trailer #2
Trailer #3

Rain again

Got in a nice ride this morning of about 53 miles. It was a little longer than I was planning and it was a lot faster than I really wanted but it was a training ride and I needed to continue improving my endurance. The nice thing was that I stayed with the main group all the way to Frierson and I-49. After that the pace was a little slower and I found myself working a little harder to stay in. I couldn't complain...surprisingly, my legs feel pretty good right now (we'll see how they feel in the morning). I'm looking at doing the Racing Rapides Stage Race in Alexandria in two weeks and use it only as a training race and putting no pressure on myself to do all that well. Get some experience basically and that'll be fine. I hope I can get enough riding in before that to survive the whole weekend! A week later is Tour de Louisiane down in Covington and I'd like to do that race, too. It's been 4 years since I was last down there. We'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow morning Jonnene will be participating in the second of the Sunrise Triathlon Series and we hope the rains hold off a bit. Some time back the first race was canceled because of a huge storm that blew thru and Sunday's race could be similiar. I'm helping out to do the transition area setup and cheer The Wife on. I think she'll do pretty well but we'll have to see how her hip holds up in the run.

The threat of rain is here with us the next few days and I'm getting tired of it. I need several days in a row of dry weather so I can spend some serious time out in the yard. I can't do much when everything's soaked.

Memorial Day Weekend begins

The History Channel has been playing the famous HBO series "Band of Brothers" all this weekend as their tribute to Memorial Day, coming up this Monday. Whenever it's on I stop most of what I'm doing and watch some of the episodes. It's filmed as battle-realistic as possible (based on the style of "Saving Private Ryan") but it's never like the real thing must have been. At the beginning of each episode there are brief interviews with men who were actually part of Easy Company in the 101st Airborne. They are old men now and they are sharing their feelings and stories with the audience. I watch them, try to picture them as young men who saw terrible things, and came away different. Some can speak easily about their experiences and others have a much more difficult time. You can see the pain on their faces as they talk of the deaths of friends. You realize that they can't tell you much but in the few sentences they speak, they tell you everything. There are times I find myself tearing up as I listen to them and I'm thankful to God that I've not gone through what they did. Sometimes you get the feeling that these men were the unlucky ones even though they survived the war....that they're envious of of their buddies who died because, at least, it's over for them. Those old men have to relive those experiences continually and for some there's no peace and they feel tremendous guilt for having survived, that there's something they could have done to save a buddy. But they'll never know.

These are the men that this holiday is for and they deserve all the thanks we can give them. They, and the men who served before them and who served after them.

It's Thursday....yeah, really.

Got in a total of 54 miles of bike riding today. That's combining the 5:50 am morning ride and the evening ride so hopefully that'll help get me back into some kinda shape a little faster. I stayed with the morning group easier than I thought I would, even though it was a bit faster than usual which was surprising for me. It had gotten slower the last year or so and to see the speeds constantly over 24 mph seemed so yester-year, y'know? Now the evening ride was, again, seeing me hang in with the racers for the first six miles to the Crossroads. Heck, I even led going down one of the hills around 30 mph and stayed toward the front of the group. Fortunately, when we turned right to head to Frierson the pace slowed a bit and that made me happy...I could recover a bit! Then I made one last chase to a couple of other guys up the road but that would be it for me. Over a couple of small risers and I was off the back. I continued on and had a good ride for the condition I am in. It just wasn't that fast.

Jonnene's preparing for a triathlon this Sunday here in town so she had the TT bike out, getting familiar again with the aero positioning. I think she'll do just fine in the swim and bike, but the run we'll be keeping our eyes on. Her right hip...or actually some outside muscles....are giving her a problem. We're surprised by it cause it came on rather suddenly a week ago so she's held off running during this time. She's confident that she'll finish the triathlon but the run might not be what she would want. Usually it's the knee but now it's something else. I tell you...the gal is falling apart!! Hee-hee!!

Koff...koff...kofffff....hack...

Paul relaxes with his version of the musical "Kats".

I rode my bike for the first time in two weeks last night. As Jonnene said, I would rely more on my muscle memory than actual muscle strength. The best part was that I stayed with the racers for the first six miles down to the Crossroads and I felt friskly enough to do a couple of chases...and caught 'em, too, at 29 mph...but toward the end I was feeling a bit worn out and more than happy to let them go on. I waited for Jonnene's later ride group and finished out the jaunt with them at a much slower pace. But 27 miles for my return to the road wasn't bad...I'm curious if my butt will be sore when I do my second ride on Thursday! In the meantime, I'm still sick to some extent but I'm getting better, getting more energy and all that. Still lots of coughing going on....

Spent parts of Monday and Tuesday up in Little Rock visiting my friend, Paul, and doing another photo shoot for Cobb Cycling of their new V-Flow Max saddle. A good opportunity to catch up on things and stay up way later than the two of us should. I think I konked out before 1 am Tuesday morning, getting up at 7:45, eating breakfast and leaving for Shreveport by 10:30. The shoot went well and I've included a shot of the new saddle. Should be ready for sales & distribution by July. Johnny Cobb says it's the most comfortable saddle he's ever designed and he plans to use one of the two sample models at a Half-Ironman race in Kansas in a few weeks. Jonnene rode one of them last week and she felt it was a very nice saddle, no problems at all. It just looks a little odd.

Last weekend was the fifth edition of the local Rocky Mount Stage Race, a race I started back in 2005 with just two road races over a weekend. It became a stage race the next year and I took myself out of it. I had gotten burnt out on being a race promoter and director, and I'm glad to spend time being a regular volunteer and advisor if needed.

I drove lead vehicle for the Cat. 1-2-3's and the Masters 35+. Highlights included a 7-man break in the 1-2-3's that would end up in a heads-up sprint between internationally-experienced Christian Helmig of the Metro Volkswagen team and Mat Davis of my own Team LaS'port. Mat...or "Bolt" as we like to call him...edged out Christian by a couple of inches at the line in an impressive display of power and speed. In the Masters race, Jason Miller of MidSouth Masters took off from a small break and rode solo for the remaining 3.5 laps of the 4-lap race, winning by 4 minutes or something like that. It was fun to watch from my vantage point.

On Sunday morning I spent 90 minutes on a corner on the criterium course in a freezing rain, getting wet and wondering if my sickness was going to get worse. That weather lasted thru the first three races (Cat. 5's, Women, and Master 45+/55+) until the sun blasted thru all the clouds and the weather was warm and perfect for the final three races. After all that, I vegged out the rest of the day trying to get well.

Here's me putting lead vehicle signs on my
trusty 'kota before the road races.

The Category 1-2-3 pack sails around one of the
corners on the road course.

The "Peanut Gallery"

From left to right: Jonnene, with her dog, Sophie, Elka, Blake, Scott, and Heather as they watch the Sunday criterium races.

Pics from Colorado

Some of the pics we took while up in Colorado Springs last weekend. Click on the images if you want to see a larger version.

Pikes Peak, Colorado, as seen from the Garden of the Gods.

Jonnene stands by some of the fallen boulders in the Garden of the Gods.

A sick man's viewpoint. Jonnene has the laptop on the table at the end of the bed, checking emails, while I suffer from congested lungs and fever at 9500 feet. Yeah, real fun here. We were staying in the India Room.

Breakfast at the Stonehaven Inn Bed & Breakfast.
I don't feel near as good as I look.

Several mule deer wandered up around the cabin to partake of the corn left for them (to keep them away from the flowers recently planted outside) that morning. It was really cool!

View from the second floor deck at Stonehaven.
We're in the morning shadow of Pikes Peak.

Back in Colorado Springs:
My niece, Kristi, with her husband, Marc, outside their new home in Fountain, CO. Marc heads off to Afghanistan in a few weeks for a year. We wish him a good trip that passes quickly and that he stays safe out there.

Back From the Springs

Just a short post for now....we're back!! I'm taking it slow today, mostly just resting and getting some strength back. It's nice to breath in this thick low-elevation air!! Still congested but it's better than 48 hours ago!

Flight down was fine...left ear got a little tight on the descent but no big deal. In fact, it still feels plugged up. At least my sinuses gave no problems with the pressure changes.

We consider the trip a moderate success. We got to do a few things, look around the area, see some family and friends, and enjoy the views. Obviously we could have done a lot more if I wasn't sick but that's how it goes. You can't plan for these things and you have to be able to adapt to the conditions. More to come with pictures.

Sick at Altitude

Well, at this time we're up in Colorado Springs (which happens to be in Colorado, natch) for an anniversary trip but it hasn't turned out exactly as we planned. For one thing, my sickness got worse and my chest was getting more congested even before we left Shreveport. The flight up no problem...probably one of the smoothest rides I've ever been on...but I found out soon that when your chest is clogged up like mine was (still is) you can't breathe very deeply...no surprise...but when you're in thin air it's even worse. On Saturday night we stayed at the Stonehaven Inn Bed & Breakfast after spending most of the day doing some site-seeing which was wearing me out. The B&B is located on the west side of Pikes Peak, in its morning shadow, at an elevation of 9,500 feet and I went rapidly downhill after we got there. It felt like the entire night I was having to make myself breathe and worked up one heck of a nasty fever which broke later that night. It was an effort to just walk to the bathroom and back. I felt like I should have been dragging a tank of oxygen behind me with the plastic tubes under my nose! I'll get into the trip a little more later but I wanted to say the B&B was a great place...good owners (from Arkansas who recently graduated a daughter from Louisiana Tech...small world) and terrific location. I'd recomment the place in an instant. I told Jonnene we'll come back soon and do this right...meaning when I'm not sick and influenced by the elevation.

So it's Sunday night now and I'm feeling much better but I'm still congested, especially in my sinuses which ought to make the flight back to Dallas really interesting tomorrow if that doesn't clear up. At least I ate a complete dinner tonight, a delightful meal of baked salmon, couscous (rice), and green beans cooked up by my niece's husband, Marc. We've stayed Friday and Sunday nights at their house here in the Springs and they've been great hosts. Marc's heading to Afghanistan in a few weeks for a year's tour with his Army buds and we hope he keeps his head down and aims straight. He's already spent 15 months in Iraq and seems...at this point to us...that he came out of it with a positive experience. He's had a grenade thrown at him and has been in "few" firefights, but he likes to talk about his experiences with the locals and how they were invited into homes to eat and visit. I felt he enjoyed being around the people there and he does smile when he talks about them.

Even though we haven't done everything we wanted to do because of how I felt, we have gotten a few things accomplished here. Twice we got to visit with a friend of mine, Ron, who lives in Manitou Springs and is manager of the Wal-Mart there. He's still a member of our local race team, Team LaS'port, and wears the uniform on his training rides in the mountains. I hadn't seen him since 2002 but we still exchanged the ocassional email and I wanted to make sure we made contact during this trip. We also met his wife and we had a grand time hanging out in a little coffee shop called Spice O' Life on the main drag in Manitou Springs. That was good.

We got to see some tourist sites like Garden of the Gods and the Cliff Dwellings. I had seen all of this when I was 12 years olds on a family vacation with my Mom and brother. The tourist spots haven't changed that much but the area around Colorado Springs has changed plenty since 1967!

More to come....I'm tired and I wanna go to bed.

Sickness All Around!!

And now, the only blog on the internet guaranteed not to give you swine flu!

At least I think so. Oink, oink......

Both Jonnene and I are dealing with illnesses at this time, both are different. She's been wrestling with this hacking cough for over 10 days now and, though it seems to be getting better, she's still letting go with these concussive blasts. She's trying some different meds and hopefully that'll solve the issue. In my case it's a classic recurrence of my reaction to the change of seasons where I sneeze a lot, stuff tissue up my nose, and feel achy all over. What's really weird is that I knocked about 48 seconds off my previous time on my 2-mile neighborhood run this morning. Maybe I should exercise while sick more often? Nah.....

Since we last talked....did a 50-mile ride on Saturday with some of the boys but it was not near as intense as the previous Saturday when we knocked out 78 at race pace. Oh, it was fast and you had to do some work, but it didn't come near as close to tearing you down from the effort. What we like to call a "civilized" ride yet still putting some hurt on your legs. Got some hill work in the process and that nearly did me in but I managed to either keep up or catch up over the top.

But Sunday was the Funday. The local triathlon club, Sunrise, was putting on the first of three races in the Sunrise Tri Series. It was not a good sign when the thunder and lightning came on around 2 in the morning. Jonnene's dog, Sophie, spent the rest of that early morning in bed with us as she is not fond of such weather and shakes a lot. So the alarm goes off at 4:30 am and we got up since we're supposed to be there to help set up the transition area at 5:30. It's STILL raining....a lot! Well, we still have to go out to the race site and get the official word from the race director as to what we have to do. We drove out, not even getting out of the car because it's raining so hard. Over the next hour more cars showed up and eventually everyone migrated to the covered area of the swim club the race was starting from. Eventually the race director had to cancel the race...too much lightning, thunder, and more rain than anyone was expecting. We were home by 8 am and felt like we had spent all day out somewhere!

Doug, the race director, makes the announcement that there'll be no racing today.